The present invention relates to a plankton examination apparatus and, more particularly, to a plankton examination apparatus capable of generating an image of plankton for a sample from a pipeline itself even without obtaining a separate sample and determining the number of individuals of plankton included in the sample.
The present invention relates to a plankton examination apparatus.
The check of the number of individuals of plankton is treated as very important in order to protect a marine ecosystem in other areas due to ballast water in addition to a detailed check and research for an algal bloom or red tide phenomenon.
The check of the number of individuals of plankton is measures for preventing damage to the marine ecosystem attributable to ballast water included in a vessel travelling between countries. This is a precondition for preferentially performing processing on plankton included in ballast water which may threaten the marine ecosystem of another area if a vessel that has departed from a specific area discharges the ballast water in order to lie in another area.
In particular, in order to prevent ecological and economic damage which may be generated by a movement of ballast water and to preserve biological diversity, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted “International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM)” on February 2004.
Specifically, methods which may be used to process ballast water according to the criteria of the adopted convention may be basically divided into two kinds. The first is an in-line processing method, and the second is an in-tank processing method. The in-line processing method is a method for processing ballast water when the ballast water is introduced and discharged. The in-tank processing method is a method for processing ballast water on the voyage after the ballast water is introduced. Current international ballast water processing technologies include the in-line processing method. In the in-tank processing method, the size of a processing apparatus may be reduced compared with the in-line processing method, but efficiency is practically reconsidered because processing speed needs to be conditioned by taking hours under way into consideration.
In both the methods, the number of individuals of problematic plankton included in ballast water is checked, a corresponding proper processing method is capable of being selected, and a test regarding whether problematic plankton included in discharged ballast water has been processed according to criteria must be performed by performing the final test for ballast water discharged before the processed ballast water is discharged.
However, an expert examination apparatus for checking the number of individuals of plankton included in ballast water has not been provided so far.
Accordingly, in an existing plankton examination apparatus, only a method for photographing a sample and determining, by an expert, determining the number of individuals of problematic plankton included in the sample by determining an image of the photographed sample with the naked eye is performed. Such an existing method has a problem in that it is very difficult to accurately calculate the number of individuals of problematic plankton included in a sample.
A background art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1995-7001601, etc., but does not suggest a solution for the aforementioned problems.